Semana Santa, Medellín

Friday 17 April 2009

Semana Santa, Medellín

Nothing too eventful happens. The city is quiet, most people have escaped to the countryside for the Easter holiday. Medellín is a big city. I stay at Tiger Paw hostel, beside restaurants, bars, the Metro station and Blue - a great rock club. I meet an Irish guy there, James from Kilarney, and we discover that we share mutual close-friends in Sligo. We (Helene, Marie, Mauri, Canada & James) sit in the park and drink Aquardiente (Raki-esque) in chupas - like the locals. We visit the Botero exhibition and sculptures in the park. We go to a dodgy looking Salsa bar downtown where people are searched for weapons, the men look like gangsters and the women look like (are?) prostitutes. They love music here and dance well. It seems the women are big fans of the colour pink (from candyfloss to raspberry) and tight (spray-on) clothing. The taxis are yellow, driving skills are minimal. I feel very safe here. On Easter Sunday I get a haircut and buy a new dress. I want to go and see a religious parade but it rains so I watch movies on a big plasma. I finish a book. We go to the famous club called Mangos where everyone wears cowboy-dress, there is sawdust on the floor and dwarfs dancing on the stage. In the bathrooms, stuffed horses' heads spray water for hand-washing. A girl tells me I need colour in my cheeks and covers me in rouge. The Macarena and Tweety-bird songs are played at 2am. We dance and leave, never to return or recommend. In most bars it is custom to buy a bottle of rum or whisky for the table, where everyone shares rather than buy individual drinks. People are friendly and attractive - voluptuous, sexy, charming. It rains every day and some nights. We discover the gem of a food-chain that is Crepes and Waffles - why has this not been snapped up in Europe? We try to take a cable car but it is broken. There are slum-areas and posh areas. I don't feel like taking photos. I read about Pablo Escobar, the famous criminal from Medellín. On the last night we meet up with Adam. It is really great to see him after a few weeks.

From L-R: James, Adam, me & Canada

Next morning, myself & the Norwegians leave and take a 14-hour bus to Cartagena. My mind is preoccupied with excitement about being beside the sea. I'm sick of rain and inland places. Colombian chocolate tastes nice.

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Pearls of Wisdom

Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.

- James Bryant Conant

Say what you want and be who you are because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

-Dr. Seuss

You cannot stop the birds of sorrow from landing on your shoulder, but you can prevent them nesting in your hair.

-Chinese proverb

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.

-Winston Churchill

The discipline of writing something down is the first step towards making it happen.

-Lee Iacocca

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer someone else up.

-Mark Twain

Our prime purpose in life is to help others. And if your can't help them, at least don't hurt them.

-Dalai Lama

It is better to have lived one day as a tiger than 1,000 years as a sheep.

-Tibetan proverb

If you want to be happy for a short time, get drunk; happy for a long time, fall in love; happy forever, take up gardening.

-Arthur Smith

DESIDERATA

GO placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with other, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.

IF you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don't deal in lies, or being hated, don't give way to hating, and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, and lose, and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run, yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, and - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son! -Rudyard Kipling

Elaine's Trail of Thoughts — Travel Memoirs

Friday 17 April 2009